Original subtitles

.

ANNOUNCER: WHEN YOU SEE THIS SYMBOL, YOU KNOW

YOU'RE WATCHING TELEVISION THAT'S EDUCATIONAL ANDINFORMATIONAL, "THE MORE YOU KNOW" ON NBC.

DYLAN: I'M DYLAN DREYER.

JOIN ME ON AN ADVENTURE BACK THROUGH TIME, MORE

THAN THREE THOUSAND YEARS IN THE MAKING, TO THE

EMPIRE OF ANCIENT EGYPT.

WE'LL DISCOVER THE PEOPLE, CULTURE, AND RELIGION THAT

MADE EGYPT ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL CIVILIZATIONS THE

WORLD HAS EVER SEEN.

WE'LL TEAM UP WITH EGYPTOLOGISTS WORKING TO

REVEAL THE LOST SECRETS OF MUMMIFICATION.

THEN, WE'LL RELIEVE THE STORIES OF RAMESES THE

GREAT AND SOLVE THE MYSTERY OF THE PHARAOH'S

TOMB.

DYLAN: THIS IS THE COLOSSAL AND ANCIENT

TEMPLE ABU SIMBEL IN SOUTHERN EGYPT.

IT WAS CARVED OUT OF SOLID ROCK MORE THAN THREE

THOUSAND YEARS AGO AND BUILT TO HONOR ONE OF THE

GREATEST PHARAOHS WHO EVER LIVED.

TODAY, WE'RE GOING TO MEET HIM FACE-TO-FACE.

DYLAN: THIS IS RAMESES THE GREAT, HIS

SON, MERNEPTAH, AND HIS FATHER, SETI.

ALTHOUGH THESE BODIES ARE MORE THAN THREE THOUSAND

YEARS OLD, THEY HAVE BEEN PRESERVED BY THE PRIESTS

OF ANCIENT EGYPT WITH SECRET METHODS AND

INGREDIENTS TROUGH A PROCESS CALLED

MUMMIFICATION.

DYLAN: TO LEARN WHY ANCIENT EGYPTIANS MUMMIFIED THEIR

DEAD, WE MUST RETURN TO THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS.

DYLAN: PHARAOHS LIKE RAMESES THE GREAT WERE THE GOD-LIKE

KINGS OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN EMPIRE, AN EMPIRE

THAT DOMINATED THE NEAR EAST FOR THOUSANDS OF

YEARS.

IN ALL THAT TIME, EGYPTIAN SOCIETY, CULTURE, AND

GOVERNMENT BARELY CHANGED.

DYLAN: RAMESES' FIRST WIFE AND QUEEN WAS NEFERTARI.

LIKE ALL EGYPTIANS, NEFERTARI CELEBRATED THE

NATURAL CYCLES OF THE EARTH AND BELIEVED DEATH

WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING, A GATEWAY TO THE NEXT WORLD.

DYLAN: SHE ALSO BELIEVED THAT A GOOD LIFE ON EARTH

WOULD CONTINUE IN PARADISE AND THAT HER OFFERINGS

WOULD ENSURE THE HEAVENLY ORDER.

DYLAN: THE EGYPTIAN UNIVERSE WAS CONTROLLED BY

MANY GODS, BUT THE SUPREME GODDESS MAAT GOVERNED ALL.

EVEN RA, THE MIGHT SUN GOD, OBEYED THE LAWS OF

MAAT.

ANCIENT EGYPTIANS BELIEVED IF MAAT'S ORDERS WERE

BROKEN, THE SUN WOULD NOT RISE, THE MOON WOULD NOT

FOLLOW, AND MUMMIES WOULD NOT RISE AGAIN IN THE

AFTERLIFE.

THEY CALLED THE SOUL, OR THE ESSENCE OF EACH

PERSON, HIS BA.

AFTER DEATH, THE BA FACED A FINAL JUDGMENT.

THE BA WAS PLACED ON THE SCALES OF JUSTICE AND

WEIGHED AGAINST THE FEATHER OF TRUTH.

IF YOU HAD DONE EVIL, YOUR HEAVY BA WOULD TIP THE

SCALES, AND THE DEVOURER WOULD TAKE YOU.

BUT IF YOU HAD BEEN TRUTHFUL AND RIGHTEOUS,

YOUR BA WOULD BE FEATHER LIGHT AND FLOAT OFF TO

PARADISE.

DYLAN: FINALLY, YOUR BA WOULD ONE DAY RETURN TO YOUR

MUMMIFIED BODY, AND YOU WOULD COME TO LIFE AGAIN

IN THE NEXT WORLD, A WORLD WHERE EVERY MOMENT WAS

BEAUTIFUL.

DYLAN: IT WAS THE SACRED DUTY OF THE PHARAOH TO

MAINTAIN THE EGYPTIAN WAY OF LIFE, AND RAMESES THE GREAT

WAS THE MOST POWERFUL RULER EGYPT HAD EVER KNOWN.

DYLAN: HE WANTED PEOPLE EVERYWHERE TO REMEMBER

HIS NAME LONG AFTER HE HAD PASSED INTO THE NEXT LIFE,

AND, SO, HE BUILT MONUMENTS TO HIMSELF AND

TO HIS BELOVED NEFERTARI THROUGHOUT HIS KINGDOM.

DYLAN: RAMESES ALSO BELIEVED THESE MONUMENTS WOULD KEEP

EGYPT SAFE BY BROADCASTING THE MIGHT OF HIS EMPIRE TO

ANY WHO DARED ATTACK.

DYLAN: ON THE BANK OF THE RIVER NILE AT EGYPT'S SOUTHERN

BORDER, RAMESES CONSTRUCTED ABU SIMBEL,

A TEMPLE CARVED OUT OF SOLID ROCK.

DYLAN: FOUR COLOSSAL STATUES OVER 65 FEET TALL HAVE GUARDED

THE ENTRANCE TO THIS TEMPLE FOR MORE THAN THREE

THOUSAND YEARS.

DYLAN: EGYPTOLOGIST DR. BOB BRIER HAS BEEN

STUDYING EGYPTIAN PHARAOHS FOR DECADES.

DR. BRIER: WHAT KIND OF KING WAS RAMESES?

WHAT KIND OF MAN?

I'M VIEWING RAMESES AS A PERSON, BUT YOU HAVE TO

REMEMBER RAMESES WAS VIEWED BY THE EGYPTIANS AS

A GOD RESPONSIBLE FOR DIVINE ORDER IN THE

UNIVERSE.

RAMESES WAS THE PHARAOH OF THE EXODUS.

THIS MAY BE THE ONLY FACE FROM THE BIBLE WE WILL

EVER SEE.

RAMESES PERSONALLY LED HIS TROOPS INTO GREAT BATTLES.

DR. BRIER: THREE THOUSAND YEARS AGO, HE

SIGNED THE OLDEST KNOWN PEACE TREATY.

DR. BRIER: RAMESES BUILT MORE TEMPLES UP AND DOWN

THE NILE THAN ANY OTHER PHARAOH.

SURE IT TOOK 20 YEARS TO CARVE ABU SIMBEL OUT OF

THE MOUNTAIN, BUT RAMESES RULED EGYPT FOR 67 YEARS.

FOR A THOUSAND MILES THROUGHOUT ALL OF EGYPT,

RAMESES BUILT TEMPLES TO PLEASE THE GODS AND ENSURE

THAT DIVINE ORDER PREVAILED.

HE INTENDED TO BE REMEMBERED, BECAUSE THE

ANCIENT EGYPTIANS BELIEVED THAT THE MEMORY OF A GOOD

MAN LIVES FOREVER.

DYLAN: THE GREAT TEMPLES OF RAMESES ENSURED HIS

LEGACY ON EARTH, BUT THE PHARAOH WAS ALSO PREPARING

FOR THE AFTERLIFE.

HE SENT SPECIAL TEAMS OF SOLDIERS AND MEDICINE MEN

ACROSS THE KNOWN WORLD, SEARCHING FOR SECRET

INGREDIENTS FROM DISTANT LANDS, INGREDIENTS THAT

WOULD PRESERVE HIM AND HIS BELOVED QUEEN FOREVER.

COMING UP NEXT, THE LOST PRACTICE OF MUMMIFICATION

IS REVEALED.

USING THE LATEST SCIENCE, WE'LL UNCOVER THE

TECHNIQUES THAT HELPED ANCIENT EGYPTIANS ACHIEVE

IMMORTALITY, AND LATER, RAMESES' MUMMY IS MISSING,

AND THE GREATEST MYSTERY OF ANCIENT EGYPT IS ABOUT

TO BE SOLVED.

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES RIGHT AFTER THIS.

ANNOUNCER: WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK TO "THE MORE YOU

KNOW" ON NBC.

.

ANNOUNCER: WE NOW RETURN TO "THE MORE YOU KNOW" ON

NBC.DYLAN: WELCOME BACK TO "JOURNEY."

FOR THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, LIFE ON EARTH WAS SIMPLY

THE FIRST STEP ON AN ETERNAL JOURNEY THROUGH

TIME.

THE PRACTICE OF MUMMIFICATION MAY SEEM

GRUESOME TO US, BUT FOR THEM, PRESERVING THE BODY

FOR USE IN THE AFTERLIFE WAS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF

THEIR RELIGION AND CULTURE.

FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, THEIR SECRET TECHNIQUES

AND INGREDIENTS FOR MUMMIFICATION WERE LOST,

BUT TODAY, NEW DISCOVERIES ARE SHEDDING SOME LIGHT

INTO THOSE DARK AND ANCIENT TOMBS.

DYLAN: THE FACE OF RAMESES THE GREAT HAS BEEN PRESERVED

FOR OVER THREE THOUSAND YEARS.

HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?

HOW COULD ANCIENT PEOPLE SO PERFECTLY CAPTURE A

HUMAN BODY IN TIME?

ARCHEOLOGISTS HAVE DISCOVERED MANY AMAZING,

EVEN UNBELIEVABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE

ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, BUT THE WAY THEY PREPARED THEIR

BODIES FOR MUMMIFICATION REMAINED A SECRET.

ON TEMPLE WALLS, EGYPTIANS RECORDED TALES OF WAR AND

DEATH.

IN THEIR TOMBS, THEY WROTE ABOUT THEIR MYTHS AND

LEGENDS.

MUCH HAS BEEN PRESERVED ABOUT THEIR WAY OF LIFE,

EVERYTHING EXCEPT HOW THEY MUMMIFIED THEIR DEAD.

WHEN THE LAST PRIEST DIED, THEY TOOK THE SECRETS TO

THEIR GRAVES.

DYLAN: EGYPTOLOGIST DR. BOB BRIER HAS BEEN PATIENTLY

GATHERING THE CLUES OF MUMMIFICATION.

HIS SEARCH HAS LED HIM HERE.

DR. BRIER: I WAS LOOKING AT TOMB PAINTINGS, ANCIENT

WRITINGS, TEMPLE CARVINGS, ANYTHING THAT MIGHT SHOW

THE INGREDIENTS USED FOR EMBALMING.

QUEEN HATSHEPSUT'S TEMPLE AT DEIR EL BAHARI

DESCRIBES AN EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA.

THE EGYPTIANS WERE GETTING INGREDIENTS FOR

MUMMIFICATION FROM ALL OVER THE KNOWN WORLD.

ANCIENT EMBALMERS USED SEVEN SACRED OILS, SOME

EXTRACTED FROM RARE TREES THEY CARRIED HOME FROM

DISTANT LANDS.

DR. BRIER: HATSHEPSUT'S TEMPLE SHOWS MOUNDS OF

FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH THEY BROUGHT BACK, KEY

INGREDIENTS USED IN MUMMIFICATION.

OVER TIME, THE EGYPTIANS NOTICED THAT BEESWAX, PINE

RESIN, AND GOLDEN HONEY WERE PARTICULARLY GOOD AT

PRESERVING MUMMIES.

DYLAN: TO BEGIN THE PROCESS, EMBALMERS DRIED

THE BODY FOR 35 DAYS WITH A NATURALLY OCCURRING

BLEND OF SALT AND BAKING SODA.

DYLAN: THE JACKAL-HEADED GOD ANUBIS GUARDED THE MUMMY.

HIS TENT ALLOWED ARID DESERT BREEZES TO FURTHER

DRY THE BODY.

WHEN THE BODIES WERE DRIED, PRIESTS REMOVED THE

INTERNAL ORGANS LIKE THE LIVER, BUT LEFT THE HEART

IN PLACE, BELIEVING IT TO BE THE SEAT OF

CONSCIOUSNESS.

CEREMONIES ENSURED THE MUMMY WOULD BREATHE AND

SPEAK IN THE NEXT LIFE.

POWERFUL SPELLS WERE CHANTED AS THE PROTECTIVE

WRAPPINGS WERE APPLIED, AND WITH A FINAL PRAYER,

THE MUMMY WAS REBORN IN THE NEXT WORLD.

DR. BRIER: WE KNEW ABOUT THE RELIGIOUS RITUALS, BUT

THERE WAS STILL GAPS IN THE MUMMIFICATION

PROCEDURE THAT I COULD ONLY FILL IN BY CREATING A

MODERN MUMMY.

SO, I TEAMED UP WITH A COLLEAGUE, ANATOMIST RON

WADE, AND USING A BODY DONATED TO SCIENCE, WE

PERFORMED THE FIRST HUMAN MUMMIFICATION IN THE

EGYPTIAN STYLE SINCE THE TIME OF THE PHARAOHS.

DR. BRIER: FOR 20 YEARS, SCIENTISTS HAVE TRIED

TO EXTRACT USABLE DNA FROM EGYPTIAN MUMMIES

WITHOUT SUCCESS. MORE THAN A DECADE LATER, IF WE

CAN GET DNA FROM ANY PART OF OUR MODERN MUMMY,

IT WILL TELL US WHERE TO LOOK IN ANCIENT MUMMIES.

DR. BRIER: WORKING WITH DR. ANGELIQUE CORTHALS, WE TOOK

SAMPLES OF SKIN, MUSCLE, AND BONE FROM THE MODERN MUMMY.

DR. CORTHALS: MANY ANCIENT EGYPTIANS DIED FROM

MALARIA, JUST AS MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WILL THIS YEAR.

I WANT TO COMPARE ANCIENT MALARIA WITH ITS MODERN

DESCENDENT, ANCIENT DNA WITH MODERN DNA.

THE DIFFERENCES MAY POINT TOWARDS A CURE, AND

MILLIONS OF LIVES COULD BE SAVED IN THE FUTURE.

DYLAN: WHEN RAMESES THE GREAT DIED, HIS BODY WAS

BURIED IN A GREAT TOMB BUILT TO HOUSE HIS SOUL IN

THE AFTERLIFE.

INSIDE RAMESES' TOMB, THEY FOUND PAINTINGS OF

PHARAOHS, GODS, AND MUMMIES EVERYWHERE, BUT

ALTHOUGH THIS TOMB WAS MADE FOR A KING, THE

PHARAOH'S BODY WAS MISSING, AND NO ONE KNEW

WHERE IT HAD GONE.

COMING UP NEXT, WE'LL TAKE A TRIP BACK THROUGH TIME

AND WITNESS THE AMAZING STORY OF HOW RAMESES' LOST

MUMMY WAS FOUND.

DON'T GO AWAY.

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES NEXT.

ANNOUNCER: WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK TO "THE MORE YOU

KNOW" ON NBC.

.

ANNOUNCER: WE NOW RETURN TO "THE MORE YOU KNOW" ON

NBC.DYLAN: ANCIENT EGYPTIANS WROTE THINGS DOWN USING A

SYSTEM CALLED HIEROGLYPHICS, A TYPE OF

WRITING THAT USES PICTURES TO FORM WORDS, BUT

KNOWLEDGE OF HOW TO READ HIEROGLYPHICS WAS LOST

UNTIL 1799, WHEN AN ANCIENT TABLET CALLED THE

ROSETTA STONE WAS DISCOVERED.

THE ROSETTA STONE TRANSLATED HIEROGLYPHICS

INTO MORE MODERN LANGUAGES.

BY THE LATE 1800'S, ARCHEOLOGISTS HAD CRACKED

THE CODE AND COULD READ THIS FORGOTTEN LANGUAGE

FOR THE FIRST TIME.

ONE OF THE EARLIEST CODEBREAKERS WAS A MAN

NAMED CHARLES WILBOUR.

THIS IS THE STORY OF HOW HE UNCOVERED THE GREATEST

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MYSTERY OF ALL.

DYLAN: CHARLES WILBOUR STUDIED ANCIENT LANGUAGES

HIS ENTIRE LIFE.

BY 1881, HE HAD BECOME A LEADING SCHOLAR IN

EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS AND HAD TRAVELED TO EGYPT

SHORES IN SEARCH OF ARTIFACTS.

DYLAN: LIKE MANY ARCHEOLOGISTS OF HIS TIME, CHARLES KNEW

THAT THE TOMBS OF RAMESES AND OTHER GREAT PHARAOHS

WERE EMPTY OF MUMMIES, AND HE ALSO KNEW WHY.

DYLAN: PHARAOHS' TOMBS HAD BEEN ROBBED FOR THOUSANDS

OF YEARS, SOMETIMES BY THIEVES, AND SOMETIMES BY

OTHER PHARAOHS.

THE WEALTH AND GOLD BURIED BESIDE THE GREAT KINGS

WERE AN IRRESISTIBLE TARGET.

IN THE 1880'S, TWO BROTHERS NAMED AHMAD AND

MUHAMMAD RASUL WERE EXPERTS AT GRAVE-ROBBING.

INGENIOUS THIEVES, THEY'D USE EGYPT'S RARE

RAINSTORMS TO REVEAL HIDDEN TOMBS.

WHEN WATER QUICKLY DISAPPEARS INTO THE

GROUND, THEY KNEW A LARGE CAVERN LAY BELOW.

DYLAN: BACK IN THE LOCAL MARKETS AROUND EGYPT,

PEOPLE OF ALL SORTS, LOCALS AND FOREIGNERS, RICH AND

POOR ALIKE, WERE TRADING IN GOODS FROM MUMMIES' TOMBS.

IT WAS IN ONE SUCH MARKET WHERE CHARLES WILBOUR MET

THE RASUL BROTHERS AND DISCOVERED THAT THE

BROTHERS WERE SELLING MANY RARE OBJECTS THAT ALL BORE

THE NAMES OF ANCIENT KINGS.

THE BROTHERS COULD NOT READ THE HIEROGLYPHICS

FROM THE TREASURES THEY HAD FOUND, BUT WILBOUR

COULD.

WILBOUR KNEW THE BROTHERS MUST HAVE FOUND SOME GREAT

UNDISCOVERED TOMB.

WILBOUR PRESSED THE BROTHERS FOR MORE

INFORMATION.

THEY WOULD NOT SHOW WILBOUR WHERE THEY HAD

FOUND THEIR TREASURES, BUT THEY DID LEAD HIM TO THE

VALLEY OF THE KINGS.

DYLAN: IN EARLY EGYPT, PHARAOHS BUILT THEIR TOMBS

IN PYRAMIDS, BUT PYRAMIDS COULD NOT BE ADEQUATELY

GUARDED, AND THIEVES PLUNDERED THEM SOON AFTER

THEY WERE BUILT.

SO, THE PHARAOHS MOVED THEIR TOMBS HUNDREDS OF

MILES SOUTH DOWN THE NILE TO THIS HIDDEN VALLEY.

DYLAN: INSCRIPTIONS AROUND THE VALLEY SEEMED TO SHOW

THE ENTRANCES WHERE ROYAL MUMMIES HAD BEEN KEPT, BUT

THE TRAIL WENT COLD.

WILBOUR WAS AFRAID THE GREATEST ARCHEOLOGICAL

FINDS MIGHT BE LOST.

IF HE DID NOT FIND THE HIDDEN TOMB, EGYPT'S

HERITAGE LAY IN THE BALANCE.

DYLAN:HE TRIED TO PERSUADE THE BROTHERS TO TELL HIM

WHERE IT WAS ONE LAST TIME, BUT AGAIN, THEY WOULD NOT HELP

HIM.

DYLAN: WILBOUR WENT TO SEE EMILE BRUGSCH, THE TOP

ANTIQUITIES OFFICIAL IN EGYPT AT THE TIME.

HE SHOWED EMILE WHAT HE HAD FOUND, AND EMILE

DECIDED TO FORCE THE RASUL BROTHERS' COOPERATION.

[SHOUTING AND YELLING]

DYLAN: ON JULY 6TH, 1881, THE BROTHERS LED EMILE AND

CHARLES BACK TO THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS AND INSIDE A

TOMB UNLIKE ANYTHING THEY HAD EVER SEEN BEFORE.

DYLAN: THE JOURNEY CONTINUES RIGHT AFTER THIS.

ANNOUNCER: WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK TO "THE MORE YOU

KNOW" ON NBC.

.

ANNOUNCER: WE NOW RETURN TO "THE MORE YOU KNOW" ON

NBC.DYLAN: WELCOME BACK TO "JOURNEY."

WHEN EGYPTOLOGISTS STEPPED INSIDE THE LOST TOMB IN

THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS, THEY HAD JUST SOLVED THE

OLDEST MYSTERY OF ANCIENT EGYPT AND FOUND THE

GREATEST PHARAOH OF THEM ALL.

DYLAN: THE TOMB WAS UNLIKE ANY EVER FOUND.

THERE WERE DOZENS OF MUMMIES, ALL ROYAL; THE

PHARAOH TUTHMOSIS I AND HIS SUCCESSOR TUTHMOSIS

II, HUSBAND TO HATSHEPSUT, GREATEST QUEEN EVER TO

RULE, BUILDER OF THE FINEST OBELISKS IN EGYPT;

RAMESES III, WHOSE LEGACY STANDS AT KARNAK AND

BEYOND; SETI I, A BRILLIANT GENERAL WHO

COMMISSIONED EXQUISITE TEMPLES, INCLUDING HIS

TOMB IN THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS; AND MOST IMPORTANT

OF ALL, RAMESES THE GREAT.

THESE WERE THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO BUILT ANCIENT

EGYPT.

THEIR MUMMIES HAD BEEN HIDDEN HERE TO SAVE THEM

FROM GRAVE ROBBERS.

THEY HAD AT LAST BEEN FOUND.

[MEN SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

DYLAN: AND SO IT WAS THAT THE PHARAOHS BEGAN THEIR

JOURNEY OUT OF THE DARKNESS AND INTO THE

LIGHT.

THESE MUMMIES TRAVELED FOUR HUNDRED MILES NORTH

TO CAIRO, WHERE THEY LIE IN REST TODAY.

SOME MIGHT CALL IT LUCK THAT THE ANCIENT PRIESTS

HID THE PHARAOHS' MUMMIES, THAT ROBBERS DIDN'T

DESTROY THEM AFTER THOUSANDS OF YEARS.

PERHAPS IT'S LUCK.

PERHAPS IT'S SOMETHING MORE.

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED OUR JOURNEY THROUGH ANCIENT

EGYPT.

UNTIL NEXT TIME, SAFE TRAVELS.